Tom Stubbs drops out of state Senate race against Jason Carter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Democrat Tom Stubbs, who qualified with Carter to run for the state Senate seat vacated by David Adelman when he was appointed to be the ambassador to Singapore, said Wednesday he is dropping out of the race.

“I think Jason’s win and his connections to the Democratic party will give him a good win [in July],” Stubbs said Wednesday. “I don’t want to campaign unless I have a strong chance of winning.”

Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, received the endorsement of Georgia Equality, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy organization.

Carter easily won the May 11 special election with 65.6 percent of the vote. Stubbs placed second with 22.9 percent. Stubbs also sought Georgia Equality’s endorsement, citing his long record of supporting equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Carter faced off against Stubbs as well as Independent Steve Patrick, who is openly gay, and Libertarian David Montane. Montane also reached out to gay voters.

Montane had 635 votes, or 7.5 percent, while Patrick finished with 327 votes, or 3.9 percent, according to unofficial results from the Georgia Secretary of State.

“I’m really excited and honored by the endorsement,” Carter told Georgia Voice at the time.

“LGBT issues are important to this district and important to me,” he said.

“The most important thing for the LGBT community, and everyone else, is to seek out new coalitions for building broad support,” he added.

“There are issues that Georgia Equality deals with, such as HIV/AIDS, that are ripe for new coalitions, where new partnerships can be formed that maybe weren’t there in the past and where there have not been good advocates. We can grow the support for other issues … in the LGBT community in particular.”

Stubbs is an attorney in private practice in Decatur and a longtime resident and community volunteer in the district. He told Georgia Voice he was disappointed Carter received the Georgia Equality endorsement, but that if he won he would be “right back at Jeff’s door asking what can I carry for you.”

“The dynamics of the Carter name will not have as much of an impact as people think. He’s a nice guy,” Stubbs said. “Anointing someone doesn’t do a damn thing for people, Carter or no Carter.”

Stubbs ran an unsuccessful campaign for Dekalb County Superior Court Judge in 2008 and also ran for Decatur City Commission in 1999, when he lost to Kecia Cunningham. Cunningham, who was the first openly gay African-American elected official in Georgia, still holds that seat and endorsed Carter.